Today I did something that I thought would never happen in my lifetime.  I put myself in the shoes of a Los Angeles Lakers fan.  As a Celtics fans for as long as I have cared about basketball, there is just no solid reason for me to do such a thing, but I did it anyway.  During this strange process, I came up with some interesting thoughts.

The first of which is that losing Steve Nash, Steve Blake and Kobe Bryant isn’t a terrible thing right now.  As much as I adore Nash ( which I actually do), it is time for him to call it a career.  He is one of the best players of 2000’s and a joy to watch but his body doesn’t have much left.  He isn’t a good fit next to Kobe when both are healthy anyway.

As for Blake; he isn’t the long-term answer at the point so although his injury hurts the Lakers now, it shouldn’t damage their future in the slightest.

Kobe is a different story.  He wont be himself for a while and wouldn’t have been even without the broken leg.  Coming back from an injury like that takes a lot of time and effort and even though Kobe put in the effort, he still needed the time.

Because the Lakers were strapped for cash in the off-season they took on more than a handful of reclamation projects and to this point all have actually worked out well.  Not having Bryant again will force players like Xavier Henry and Wesley Johnson to step up and try to carry a team.  Both have the talent to do so, but hadn’t quite figured out the NBA game and were considered by most to be a bust.  Since very little money is invested in either player for this season, why not find out if they can play the game at a high enough level to earn new deals.

Even as a so-called Laker hater, they are so much fun to watch running at a break neck pass and they do that much better (at least right now) without those guys in the line-up.

Believe it or not, I don’t think that Los Angeles is too far away from contending again if guys like Johnson and Henry pan out and they can add a piece when Gasol and his massive contract is finally off the books.